Movie notes: The critics were right — ‘Brave’ is good enough

Some animation houses would probably kill to have a film as good as “Brave” on their resumes. Yet though its Tomatometer rating has crept up to 75, putting it a point ahead of “Cars” and losing the title of Pixar’s worst original film, “Brave” is still a bit of a letdown.

My reaction after seeing it Saturday with a family group (that, admittedly, wasn’t real interested in my opinion once they heard it was less than enthusiastic) was that it played more like a traditional Disney flick than groundbreaking Pixar works like the “Toy Story” franchise, “Up” and the still mind-boggling “WALL-E.” It’s a colorful fairytale with some spectacular scenes (although the 3-D didn’t seem essential), but its story is straight out of the Book of Disney. Maybe the multiple script writers, rewrites and the course correcton two years ago are partly to blame.

Checking out the Top Critics section of RottenTomatoes.com yesterday, it was reassuring to see that at leat a few folks felt exactly the way I did.

“We would expect this kind of overstuffed joyride from Dreamworks Animation or the folks at Fox or even Disney itself,” Ty Burr of the Boston Globe wrote. ” But it’s terribly ordinary for Pixar, and ordinary is no longer enough.”

“This Celtic-themed story hews so closely to classic fairy-tale tropes, it’s the studio’s most Disney-fied production yet,” noted Sara Stewart of the New York Post.

Still, you could do lots, lots worse for summer entertainment. Flame-haired heroine Merida is appropriately fiery and headstrong; she’s like the animated version of Katniss Everdeen with her bowmanship. Her mischevious (and equally red-haired) brothers are a hoot. And the luminous, blue will o’ the wisps that serve as trail guides when they feel like it justify the use of 3-D. The facial expressions of bear mom show just how accomplished these Pixar folks are.

But I’m sure glad we got to see “Moonrise Kingdom” as the nightcap of our movie doubleheader.